As many businesses go into ‘gifting’ overdrive, I believe Christmas has become something of a commercial con.
Prickly Thistle was founded in 2018 and in that time, we’ve experienced most of our company life in turbulent times. Like so many businesses around the country, November and December - this year more than any - has been a challenge for us.
As an ethical business, we truly believe in being a ‘people, planet before profits’ clothing brand, so much so that we voluntarily changed our legal founding documents in December 2021 as a sign of our commitment to being a business force for good, when we became the first B Corp certified textiles mill and clothing manufacturer in the UK.
This makes us very different in our approach to sales all year round – and during the festive season.
We have never been a brand that spends a fortune marketing to potential new consumers with 'bargain' gift ideas through social media algorithms that seek out people already feeling pressure to spend when times are tough.
It seems to me that this year, when we have entered this deep recession, people are being targeted more than ever with the latest deals. Why has Christmas become so focused on what we buy when we know how challenging times are right now?
We should be looking at who is around the tree, not looking at what’s under the tree.
Recession is another word for reset and I think this is an opportunity for people to consider what kind of businesses they want to be in the future.
I ask myself all the time, ‘who am I supporting? Who is making these clothes or candles? What materials are they using?’
Now we have a chance to consider being more mindful as consumers and supporting ethical businesses for the future. I always say, if it’s fundamentally not right, then I won’t fund it.
With the never-ending rise of social media targeting, this was one of the many reasons we decided to unplug our social media in October. After seeing so much negativity surrounding the impact social media can have on people’s mental health, we wanted to be social in a more meaningful way. Being social is something we love, but we want to use platforms that prioritise kindness and safety.
I believe we are one of the first Scottish brands to walk away from the mainstream social media platforms. Unless we know what their motivations and commercial strategy is, we are not going to entertain using them. Us being present on them is like saying we agree with the negative impacts, and we don’t so we just came off.
We hope that in the future things change to be more like the old Yellow Pages and the telephone book. One was for personal, one was for business. You knew what you were getting into and you knew there were adverts for businesses in there. Why don’t we go back to that, why are we shoving everybody into one place?
In the seven weeks since we dropped social media, it’s not been detrimental at all. We’ve had so many personal reach outs to say how amazing they think it is. Literally everyone I speak to wants to do it. Recently I met a lady in Dundee who really liked our brand and said that she went to follow us on Instagram and then realised we’d unplugged. She said she loved us even more when she saw that.
Beyond our social media status, we have supportive customers who value us because of what we do, and they love our products. That’s a great and humbling position to be in. But, like so many businesses right now, we still fight every month to exist.
I think it’s important to be open and transparent about that. I suppose that’s another area these social platforms are guilty of, always encouraging people and businesses to paint this big successful picture of your life or your journey.
We are finding more and more that people want to support businesses like ours and our cause.
That’s just as important as our own existence, as we love nothing more than trying to inspire people to think about what and who they fund with every purchase.
There are so many businesses and independents out there who are rebelling against the pressure to be the biggest in their field, they just want to be the best they can be. And, a great place to start is by looking under the tree.
Clare Campbell is the founder of Highland-based ethical tartan clothing brand Prickly Thistle
